1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to generally to lipid tubules and more specifically to dielectric composites containing metallized lipid tubules.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The production of lipid tubules is well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,501, to Schnur et al, incorporated herein by reference, teaches the production of tubular and/or helical microstructures from selected lipids and especially from lipids containing diacetylenic moieties. U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,981, also to Schnur et al and incorporated herein by reference, describes metallized microstructures produced by electroless plating of lipid tubules aided by the prior absorption of a catalytic precursor to the lipid microstructures. That patent also describes the incorporation of the metallized lipid microstructures into a polymer matrix. The thus produced composites, in which the metal-clad lipid microstructures are randomly oriented within the matrix, can provide useful electrical components such as inductors, capacitors and low loss electrical connectors, depending on the geometry of the lipid microstructure and the properties of the metal coating.
Because the metal clad lipid microstructures in the Schnur et al composites described above are randomly oriented, their properties are isotropic. Thus, the composites cannot be optimized for uses such as variable phase shifting, shielding against polarized electromagnetic energy, microwave resonating, frequency filtering, focusing, defocusing and discriminating between certain waveguide modes, which require anisotropic properties.